Messages - Confused1L

There's a huge difference between ABA standards that schools are obligated to follow to keep their accreditation and NALP guidelines. NALP is a completely voluntary organization to join and does not represent all legal employers.

So...if your school didn't adopt that particular NALP standard, and you're interested in non-NALP employers (like a small firm or public interest org), by all means contact them or send your resume in sooner if you think it'll help you.

I asked a similar question on the main discussion board but no one has answered it. Tehre has been a lack of communication between our career services office and the 1Ls (in all fairness, there are several new staff in the office that just started this month). Several of us thought, based on a handout from the CS office, that you could send out resumes after November 1 -- you just can't send them to NALP employers until Dec. 1.

So a couple of us sent out resumes last week to some contacts we have. We didn't intend to "cheat." But it appears that we might have accidentally done so, which worries us.... Are there any consequences for mistakenly mailing resumes a week or two too early?

Question about NALP guidelines. Is the Dec. 1 criterion applicable to legal employers that aren't members of NALP?

On Nov. 1 and 2 we had meetings with Career Services and they went over resumes, job search etc. But the whole session was rather vague. We were given a handout/timeline that told us that among our tasks for November were: oreint yourself with eattorney.com, input your profile, review job postings in CS newsletter and on eAttorney and apply for summer positions.

Then, for December, it listed: "**December 1: If interested in large firms, send resumes to firms interested in hiring 1Ls for summer positions.**" It then lists the same tasks as November.

So, are 1Ls allowed to apply for jobs with non-NALP employers before Dec. 1? I assumed that we were, based on the timeline handout, and so did another classmate of mine. Both of us have contacts that we sent resumes to last week. Is this wrong? (If so, how do we rectify the mistake?)

Is it worth transferring from Touro to Hofstra? Touro is a tier 4, but is moving out to Central Islip to be near the federal court complex (granted there are a ton of pros and cons about this). Hofstra is now a tier three, bordering on the edge of tier 2. Touro is moving out further to Long Island, which could be good and could be bad. Hofstra is stable in Hempstead and has been around a little bit longer. Is Hofstra's reputation that much better?

I thought long and hard before deciding to go to Touro. I went to an awesome undergrad and did relatively well- but then came the LSAT and my options were severely limited. Nonetheless, I am very surprised at the quality of teaching I've seen at Touro. The professors are all excellent, or at least the majority are in my opinion. Word is getting around law firms in the area about what Touro is doing with the Callahan Court Complex in Cetnral Islip. Firms, a few years down the road, will realize that this school is going to be a huge asset in producing competent legal professionals who know the law and have seen the inside of a courtroom before graduating law school.

This is the website for the architectural firm designing Touro's new campus.

By using the website above and clicking on "education" and then "Touro Law Center" you can see the actual plans for Touro's new law scool. I can't think of many schools taking as much action to improve its curriculum and campus as Touro right now.

bombed as in 146, 150 and 148 (i get EXTREMELY nervous on test days due to the rediculous amount of weight it is assigned to the lsat. average about 155/156 consistently beforehand)..i had a .3.5gpa from michigan, double major and more work experience then most undergrads in the television/journalism industry. i applied to 22 schools ranging from top 50 to bottom of tier 4. technically speaking, i think university of detroit and new england (both which i got into) are slightly better schools (emphasis on slightly). touro, however, was the only school with significant plans already underway to change their reputation, facilities and curriculum.

I graduated Michigan w/honors and bombed my LSAT, so now I am going to TOURO (not tauro or however it is being spelt by some people). But just a word of support on the school and to clear up some misinformation that is going on out there:

touro's bar passage rate is clocked in most recently at 68% (not 60% as previously stated). this puts touro on par with hofstra (ranked as #97) and ahead of New York Law School (3rd tier). one year, the school actually beat out syracuse in bar passage rate- or came close to it as i recall. their gpas are about on average with most tier 4s and a big chunk of tier 3s.

lastly, touro is just about the ONLY tier 4 school investing $30 million plus into a brand new campus opening Fall of 2006 adjacent to the nation's largest, or second largest, federal and state court complex and implementing a new cutting edge curriculum founded by their formed dean (a yale undergrad and law school grad). this is going to be an obvious draw. not saying touro is a great school or will be one when the new campus opens, but i challenge anyone to tell me this massive investment is not going to help them out somehow and get them out of the bottom of the barrel.